An Equal Opportunity Offender

He is an equal opportunity offender.

There are 196 countries in the world, if you include Taiwan. The language of the Paris climate accord was a result of discussion among 195 of them. Only Syria, in the midst of its bloodbath of a civil war, did not participate.  All who were part of the conversation, except Nicaragua (who thought the document did not adequately confront the problem) signed the agreement and 148 countries have ratified it. One has now repudiated it.

We should have seen this coming. Mr. Trump's political ascension has seemingly correlated directly to the number of other nations he has criticized.  Even before he entered office, Mr. Trump took pot shots at, among others, Mexico ("they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists"), China ("they're raping our country; the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese"), the Philippines ("we're dealing with animals"), Germany ("a total mess- big crime. Get smart") Iran ("doing bad things behind our backs"). He criticized how France and England handled  the "Muslim problem".

And he even went on the attack against institutions like NATO (obsolete) and the Pope (disgraceful).

Once in the White House, it was hoped that the magnitude of the undertaking, and the guidance of those who at least should know better, would moderate the hand and the mouth of the President.

Yet less than a week into office, Mr. Trump's declaration that Mexico would "absolutely 100%" pay for the wall led to an obscenity laced reply from Mexico's President and cancellation of a visit to Washington. The following week, the President hung up on the Australian Prime Minister over immigration policies, and shortly thereafter took a swipe at Germany and Sweden on their apparent massive crime problems. The list goes on and on, neither friend nor foe immune from the acerbic tongue and the misguided thoughts of our leader.

But, instead of a piecemeal approach, Mr. Trump has now offended virtually the entire planet in one ill conceived moment. While, in past months he has withdrawn from trade agreements, has threatened to renege on a pact reached by seven countries to control and delay the manufacture of nuclear weapons by Iran and has refused to commit to protecting our NATO allies, he has now removed our nation from a universal pledge to keep this planet from melting. His ignorance is matched only by his chutzpah.

There are no adjectives to adequately describe the ill conceived actions that are the essence of Mr. Trump. His is not an "America first" policy, but an "America last". We are no longer leaders on the world stage, instead we are the only country on this planet to step away from a commitment to address the one issue that beyond all others unites us.

What will Mr. Trump do now that he has insulted everyone?